BMO Capital Markets Raises UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Price Target to $275.00

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price target boosted by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $14.50 to $275.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, The Fly reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.16% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on UNH. Zacks Investment Research lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, November 27th. ValuEngine lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 5th. Piper Jaffray Companies increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $248.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, December 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.66.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE UNH) opened at $236.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $228,890.00, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. UnitedHealth Group has a fifty-two week low of $156.09 and a fifty-two week high of $236.90.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $52.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.57 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 4.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.11 earnings per share. equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 9.99 EPS for the current year.

In other news, CEO Larry C. Renfro sold 22,598 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.75, for a total value of $5,011,106.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 195,314 shares in the company, valued at $43,310,879.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gail R. Wilensky sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.31, for a total value of $1,250,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 61,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,652,503.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,630 shares of company stock worth $7,669,416 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.2% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 69,430,416 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,873,786,000 after acquiring an additional 796,654 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,578,618 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,974,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588,516 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 56,101,668 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,402,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168,324 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.3% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,906,936 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,466,104,000 after acquiring an additional 174,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.9% during the second quarter. TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC now owns 5,882,427 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,090,720,000 after acquiring an additional 223,524 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is a health and well-being company. The Company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, OptumHealth, OptumInsight and OptumRx. It conducts its operations through two business platforms: health benefits operating under UnitedHealthcare and health services operating under Optum.